Language matters in

aid effectiveness:

Overview

Hilary Smith Affiliate, College of Arts and Social Sciences

Affiliate, Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language (COEDL)

hilary_smith@xtra.co.nz

Language and development

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(Casey & Owen, 2014)

High ethnolinguistic diversity tends to co-occur with:

• Topographic heterogeneity

• Rapidly growing populations

• Low economic growth

… Australasian region?

Territory size shows the proportion of the world's

Indigenous living languages that are spoken there.

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(Worldmapper.org, 2016)

Linguistic dimensions of the Sustainable

Development Goals (SDGs)

(Language and the UN, 2016):

1. Language as a goal

‘a substantive element of the goal itself’

2. Language as a tool

‘a means of communication, dialogue, response

and implementation’

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Language dimensions of the SDGs

(examples)

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• Illiteracy/pre-literacy highly

correlates with poverty

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Language dimensions of the SDGs

(examples)

• Marginalised/remote

communities are more

likely to speak minority

languages → need to

communicate effectively

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Language dimensions of the SDGs

(examples)

• Everyone needs to be able to understand health

promotion materials

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Language dimensions of the SDGs

(examples)

• Mother-Tongue based Multi-Lingual Education (MTB-

MLE) most cost-effective: cognitive, social, cultural

benefits – and faster to other languages

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Language dimensions of the SDGs

(examples)

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• Girls’ education in Mother Tongue has even more

benefits

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Language dimensions of the SDGs

(examples)

• Everyone needs a

‘voice’ in decision-

making, e.g. for

privatisation of water

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Language dimensions of the SDGs

(examples)

• Dialogue with stakeholders will ensure sustainability

of innovations

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Language dimensions of the SDGs

(examples)

• Access to official and ‘international’ languages =

opportunity for work

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Language dimensions of the SDGs

(examples)

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• Linguistic issues

underpin sustainable

growth

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Language dimensions of the SDGs

(examples)

• Increasing power of a global Anglophone élite

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Language dimensions of the SDGs

(examples)

• Disaster preparedness plans need to reach all language

groups

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Language dimensions of the SDGs

(examples)

• Traditional knowledge

systems encoded in

language

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Language dimensions of the SDGs

(examples)

• Climate change mitigation efforts more sustainable if

linked in to traditional concepts

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Language dimensions of the SDGs

(examples)

• Local languages carry

traditional knowledge

about the sustainable

use of marine

resources

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Language dimensions of the SDGs

(examples)

• Ethnobotany links to linguistic knowledge of terrestrial

ecosystems

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Language dimensions of the SDGs

(examples)

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• Languages are central to cultural identity (→ justice,

peace, inclusiveness)

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Language dimensions of the SDGs

(examples)

• Translation and interpretation will enable everyone to be

included in the partnerships

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Conclusion

Language and the UN (2016, p. 2):

‘[T]here is an urgent need to include

language at the planning, implementation

and assessment stages of each of the

SDGs.’

→ aid projects and programmes

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References

Casey, G. P., and A. L. Owen. 2014. ‘Inequality and fractionalisation.’ World

Development 56: 32-50.

Language and the UN. 2016. ‘Conclusions’. Symposium on Language and the

Sustainable Development Goals, 21-22 April 2016.

www.languageandtheun.org

UNESCO Bangkok. 2012. Why language matters for the Millennium

Development Goals.

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0021/002152/215296e.pdf

SIL. 2014. Why languages matter: Meeting the Millennium Development Goals

through local languages.

https://www.sil.org/sites/default/files/mdg_booklet_2014_english_web.pdf

UN Sustainable Development Knowledge platform.

https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org

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